Wedding at Crossed Keys Estate: Caroline & Phil

October 10, 2018

Oh man next up on the blog is Caroline & Phil! I am so happy I was there to photograph their wedding, this is such good stuff and they are my kind of people! They held their wedding at Crossed Keys Estate in Andover, NJ this past August and it seriously was non stop action all day long. The weather was kind of a jerk as it rained mere minutes before their outdoor ceremony was about to start, but we moved back inside under the tent and got all snuggy as it thundered. These two can party! And so can their friends! Their wedding was so much fun to photograph…. I love a bride who stage dives and doesn’t care about her dress getting dirty. Go big or go home!

Here is their story, as told by Caroline:

How did you meet? It’s nothing too out of the ordinary but Phil and I met pretty conventionally through a friend in 2015! We actually didn’t realize but Phil and I had met back in 2010 and had spent some time at the same events & parties but were dating other people at the time.. fast forward 5 years later and we met again and realized through pictures that we were basically standing across from each other.

The proposal: It was the last weekend of August of 2017 and Phil was in Montreal for a golf outing with work but had planned on coming straight down the shore once he landed. When he called me when he landed he told me had to go back home to get his drone… I was pissed haha. But whatever, I went to the beach with my parents, my bother Kevin and his girlfriend Katie. Proceeded to have a normal day on the beach where Phil finally met us. I was a little annoyed that no one wanted to go to dinner with us but didn’t think anything of it. After the beach we were getting ready to go to sunset by the bay, which is my favorite place in the world.

At this point, everyone had gone their separate ways for dinner and I was headbanging to King of Leon in the backyard and Phil was chugging wine, which was odd because Phil doesn’t chug wine, but again, I didn’t think anything of it and thought Phil just wanted to have some fun.

We hopped on our bikes and rode to bay to enjoy which was going to be our last sunset down the shore, and it was a picture perfect sunset. We got to the bay and only a woman with a camera was their taking pictures of her daughter. I didn’t think anything of this either (I guess I’m pretty oblivious) But we sat down, enjoyed the sunset. Phil and I have always joked that we had a list of priorities: 1. house 2. dog 3. boat 4. marriage. At this point in the night Phil decided to tell me that his list had changed and marriage had moved to #1. He got down on one knee in front of the most beautiful sunset and asked me to marry him. I kept saying “is this real life, what is going on”, I couldn’t believe it. I obviously said YES! and we heading back on our bikes to my family’s shore house.

As we pulled up on our bikes I was in complete shocked to be surprised yet again by my younger brother, Brian, who was supposed to be at school, my parents, Kevin, Katie and Phil’s parents and brother, Steven… they tricked me all day! We spent the night in the backyard around the fire, celebrating and drinking champagne, it was the best night of our lives.

Oh and it turns out that Phil didn’t go back to his house for his drone when he landed, he went back for the diamond ring!

What’s next on your calendar as a couple? After we got married in August 2018 we spent 5 days in Paris and 5 days in Sardinia. We ate absolutely everything in sight and would move to Paris in a heartbeat! But of course its not reality, but we did come back to a beautiful new home that we had just bought before we got married. We plan to start a life here with future babies and fur babies.

What were some of your favorite moments from your wedding day? Can the whole day be our favorite moment? haha, but seriously, there is not a moment we wont forget. From dancing with our dad and mom, to walking back down the aisle to “Sweet Disposition”, all we wanted to do was celebrate and dance with all of our friends and family, and we did that from beginning to end. I think as you’ll see in some pictures, our people like the party. I know for Phil, his favorite moment has to be performing “Tom Sawyer” by Rush (unplanned by the way) and stage diving on his back.

What did you learn through the whole wedding planning process? (Anything surprising?) That you really cant sweat the small stuff! People don’t remember, they just want to have fun and eat good food and drink. What was super surprising was that if it rains, just go with it. Although we were supposed to have an outdoor ceremony, more people are going to remember that during our vows it was thundering and lighting. It was a much more meaningful and romantic ceremony, and one that cant be forgetting. And rain ALWAYS passes.. its more about the moment of getting to spend your life together forever.

Any advice for future couples planning their weddings?Don’t get hung up on what other people think, and plan your dream day the way you want it.